Tavares Too Much For Mount Dora

Lake sports

The Bulldogs, Ranked No. 1 In The Class 3a State Poll, Rushed To A 10-2 Lead And Held Mount Dora To 13 Points In The First Half.

January 22, 2000|By Herky Cush of The Sentinel Staff

MOUNT DORA - Tightening the defensive screws from the get-go, Tavares was able to dominate its Class 3A, District 6 boys basketball game with Mount Dora on Friday, 59-45.

The Bulldogs kept the host team off the scoreboard for the first three minutes and in the process built a 10-2 lead.

Brian Dailey keyed the offensive start for the Bulldogs, scoring five quick points including a 3-pointer to start the game's scoring.

The victory kept the Bulldogs one game back of Eustis in the district while Mount Dora lost for the third time in district play. Tavares, No.1-ranked in the Class 3A poll, improved to 19-1, 5-1; Mount Dora slipped to 10-8, 2-3.

``I felt as if we played one of our best defensive games early on,'' Tavares Coach George Bianchi said.

``To hold Mount Dora to 13 points in the first half was a great effort on our part. We did not give Zach Ward many good looks at the hoop in that first half.

``Brian did a nice job early on for us. We needed that from him.''

Also stepping up big for the Bulldogs was sophomore Cole Scharlau, who finished the night with 10 points. He, along with Manny Figueroa and Dailey, helped the Bulldogs dominate the inside.

``Tavares came out and established itself as the dominating team,'' Mount Dora Coach Scott Williams said. ``They especially dominated the glass.

``We just did not come ready to play this game and I take the blame for that. I thought I had them better prepared for the game, but they were not.''

Mount Dora came out fired up for the first meeting between the two schools, building as much as a 15-point lead. Such was not the case in this game.

Ontavies Johnson entered the game in the second quarter and scored all of his eight points, helping the Bulldogs to their 34-13 edge at the intermission.

Figueroa, who led the Bulldogs with 17 points, scored along with Scharlau and Derek Fallstrom on a 6-0 run early in the third period to push the Tavares advantage to 40-15.

``Cole and Manny did a nice job of looking for one another on the inside,'' Bianchi said. ``That helped our inside game.''

Ward finally began to break free late in the third quarter, but the Bulldogs had the victory well in hand. Ward closed with 21, getting eight points in each of the last two quarters.

While they were able to find some outside game through Ward, the Hurricanes had no answers for the powerful inside game of the Bulldogs.